| THE FAMILY - YAHWEH'S BUILDING BLOCK Through the ages, in every society around the world, the family has always been the foundational building block of society. The concept of Father, Mother, children - then the extended family of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc., has been known from earliest times in all cultures, on every inhabited continent. This is the way it has been from the very beginning of humanity. From Adam and Eve, if you believe the Bible, as I do. But Adam and Eve made a mess of things right from the start. And why? Let's re-view the story from Genesis, beginning in 1:26. We see that man was made in the image of Elohim, after their likeness. Man was to have dominion over the earth. Man was to take Sa-tan's place as world-ruler, since he had disqualified himself through rebellion. Yahweh is Spirit; we are flesh. The Spirit is the reality, the permanent; we are temporary, fleshly, merely an image or likeness of the Father, somewhat like a picture is a likeness or image of me, let's say, composed of paper. But I am composed of flesh, not paper. Verse 27: So Elohim created man in his image, in the image of Elohim created he him; male and female created he them." In verse 28 He blessed them and gave them a commission to replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over it. Chapter two gives a more de-tailed account of these events, and verse 24 chronicles the beginning of the first family. "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh. Chapter three tells of the serpent's deception, and the first sin. This chapter also refers to Adam as "her husband," and Eve as "his wife." Even before Adam and Eve had children, this first family had come under attack. They were cursed for their sin, and banished from the garden. And the very first human born on this earth rose up and killed the second human, his own brother, in a fit of rage. Think what this did to the family of Adam and Eve. Their sec-ond son dead, their first-born banished to a distant land, they had to start all over again. Satan saw that Yahweh was going to work through the family to establish His purpose here on earth, then, down through the ages, and even now. We know that Adam's generation deteriorated morally until it was necessary to call Noah (a direct descendant of Adam) to build an ark to save him-self and his immediate family, a total of 8 persons. He then brought on a great flood to destroy everyone else. But shortly after the flood, Noah's great-grandson, Nim-rod, became the world's first despot, herding families into cities and ruling over them, teach-ing men to look to him instead of Yahweh, Gen. 10:8-9. The word, "before," would have been better translated, "against." Then in Gen. 12 we see that Yahweh begins to work with one man's family, that of Abraham. He also was a direct descendant of Noah through Shem. He called Abraham (still named Abram at this time), and made a covenant with him, and with all his descendants who would follow after. In other words, his extended family. From here we see a continuous line of descent, through Isaac, Jacob (Israel), his 12 sons, including Judah (the first "Jew"), through whom the Messiah came. Yahweh told Abram (Gen. 12:3) that in him "....shall all families of the earth be blessed." This was a refer-ence to the coming Messiah, who was also a descendant of Abraham. See Galatians 3:8. Throughout the Bible we see this family relationship being attacked by Satan. And what was (and is) the weapon of choice? SEX, of course! One of the strongest pulls we as humans have been given is the sexual urge - the urge to reproduce ourselves. Yahweh gave this to us so that we would multiply. This is an honorable and respectable activity, entirely sanctioned by Yahweh WITHIN marriage. But man has taken something precious and sacred, given by Yahweh, and totally and completely perverted it. This is one of the most serious sins in the eyes of Yahweh, because of its sacred intended use, and also one of the most, if not THE most, commonly practiced ones. Just about everything on earth is a physical representation of something in heaven. For instance, the Tabernacle in the wilderness, and later the Temple, were to conform to an exact pattern because they represented the heavenly. See Hebrews 8:1-5. So, is it not plausi-ble to think that the reason Yahweh takes such a dim view of illicit sexual activity, is because this act in marriage somehow represents His adding of sons to His family? We are heirs (Gal. 3:29); we are sons (John 1:12; Romans 8:14; Galatians 4:6; 1 John 3:1-2). We shall give up this flesh and don our eternal spirit body at the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:49 - 53 and Phil. 3:20 - 21). We have been BEGOTTEN into His divine family, and will be BORN into it at the return of Yahshua the Messiah! HalleluYAH! And look how mankind has perverted this act, and thereby himself. Sodom and Go-morrah; the Israelites in the wilderness (the orgy involving the golden calf, and their brief but costly affair with the Midianites); David's problems with Bathsheba (Although he was for-given for this great sin, he had family problems for the rest of his life); Solomon's excesses. And this is just a very short list of the many examples given in Scripture. But what about our day? Is the family still under attack? According to all I find, the answer is, "YES!, more so now than ever before." Here are a few significant news items that have come to my attention lately: Homosexual activists have brought suit in Hawaii to have same-sex "marriages" legal-ized. This suit is now before the State Supreme Court, and the perverts are expected to win. What impact will this have on the other 49 states? The U. S. Constitution has a "Full faith and credit" clause that says states must honor every other state's laws. Therefore, if Hawaii "marries" queers, every other state must then accept that legal contract. If this thing is approved by that state's Supreme Court, then we can expect to see thou-sands of pairs of homosexuals, lesbians, transvestites, and other deviates, fly to Hawaii to get "married" and then return home to demand their state recognize that union. This will effec-tively void current state laws that honor one-man, one-woman marriage! Same sex "marriage" has been their goal for decades. This is the ultimate target of the homosexual rights agenda. Concerned Women for America, from whom I received a bulletin about this travesty, has identified three ways all our children and grandchildren will be impacted, our assemblies and our communities will be hurt if homosexual "marriage" is legalized. 1. Public schools will be forced to teach children that this is normal; just an alterna-tive family lifestyle; and it will become part of the state-funded sex education and family life classes. Parents who object could face imprisonment or fines, and risk having their children taken away because they are "unfit parents." 2. Federal civil rights laws will be invoked to keep pastors from criticizing homos or their practices. If a pastor refuses to "marry" a queer couple, he could be prosecuted, the "church" could lose its tax-exempt status, or forced to close. (a good reason for NOT registering with the IRS in the first place). A similar instance has already occurred in Wisconsin, requiring an expensive lawsuit to maintain the "right" of a church to not hire homosexuals. 3. Every local, state and federal law will be changed to accommodate homosexual "marriage." There are countless pages of time-honored laws governing everything from real estate to passing inheritances to children. All these laws will have to be revised to accommo-date same-sex unions. And as if this weren't enough, the Federal Department of Education keeps intruding more and more into the lives of our children, coming between them and their parents, devising ever more schemes billed as curricula, designed to promote the idea that Big Brother knows best and we should look to BIG GOVERNMENT for the solutions to our problems. Then, of course, there's the Department of Human Services, promoting abortion on demand. After all, isn't that a "right" of every would-be mother, to kill her baby, if having it now would be an inconvenience? Considering what abortion does to the would-be mother, let alone the innocent child, it is strange to me that some women's groups would support such a thing. But they think anything is better than abstinence. Speaking of abstinence, there was a recent case where a school board was sued by the ACLU for daring to teach abstinence in their sex-ex course, and the ACLU won despite statis-tics proving that, since teaching abstinence began, overall teen pregnancies had dropped in that school district. In addition to "gay" activism, government ineptness, etc., the family has disintegrated on other fronts as well. When I was a young man, living together was "shacking up." It was frowned upon, and "decent" people wouldn't think of doing such a thing (or so they would have you believe). Now it is so common that NO ONE thinks a thing about it. I know of one case where a young man's mother actually tried to talk a virgin girl-friend of her son's, into "living together" for awhile to see if they were compatible. Yes, Mom's a church-goer, I'm told. To her credit, the girl refused the "offer." Another factor, a large one, is the prevalence of divorce. Little innocent kids are messed up for life every day in the divorce courts of this and other lands. What causes 99% of all divorces? Vanity, lust, greed, self-interest over the interests of that most precious trust Yahweh has placed upon mankind: their children. And also their mates. It's the "BIG I" "I'm the important one here, you're dirt!" seems to be the attitude. Yahweh hates divorce. He hates ALL these assaults upon His sacred institution of marriage. Why such blind stupidity? Why can't courts render righteous judgment? Why and how have these minority fringe groups gained such power? Why are people so vain? Yah-weh is allowing man to go his own way under Satan's sway for now. But man's six "days" are about over. Then it will be time for the Day of Yahweh, a time spoken of in about 40 prophecies in Scripture, when He will set His hand to save His righteous saints whom He has called out of this filth, and to punish those who will not repent and obey His voice. Finally, at that time, the Saints will become Spirit, of the same composition as Yahweh and His Son, and will truly be His sons, in His very family. "May Yahweh hasten that day," should be our prayer! ~Frank Brown |